This afternoon we stopped in at the Nedlands Library to check out the winning poems from the 2012 Roland Leach Poetry Prize. (You can find the display in the Children’s Library section.)
Congratulations to Celine Ng—the 9-year-old poet who won the overall prize, as well as the Year 3, 4 & 5 category. Way to go!
(If that’s inspired you to get writing, you can check out a list of kids’ writing comps here on the blog.)
A good way to hone your writing skills is to enter a writing competition. You won’t always win, of course, but it’s a good way to get motivated, get ideas and get writing!
Keep an eye on the closing dates, and remember to read the guidelines. Judges hate it when they read a fabulous story or poem and they can’t award it a prize because it was longer than the word limit, or didn’t stick to a rule listed on the entry form.
Here are some upcoming competitions for kids.
Australia-wide:
Alphabet Soup‘s autumn 2011 short-story comp (Closes 29 April. Entries postmarked 29 April accepted)
Dorothy Mackellar Poetry Awards (Closes 30 June 2011)
Sally Odgers Aussie Schools Writing Contest (Closes 30 June 2011)
WA:
The Tim Winton Award for Young Writers (Closes 22 May 2011)
Make Your Own Story Book Competition (Closes 3 June 2011)
Randolph Stow Young Writers Awards 2011 (Only open to Geraldton area. Closes 8 July)
Write a Book In a Day (Teams must complete the challenge by 31 August 2011)
SA:
SA English Teachers Association—The Young Writers Award 2011 (Closes 31 May 2011)
Do you know of any other writing competitions for kids?
alphabetsoup.net.au 